We are approaching the end of January, and the Miami Heat are finding themselves in a tough spot. They currently own a record of 22-23 and have gone just 3-5 over their last eight games, most recently falling to the Boston Celtics on Monday night. At the moment, they are in the Eastern Conference playoff picture, and barring a collapse or more injuries (Goran Dragic is already out but should return soon), they should make the postseason.
But what's the point?
It will be just like last year. The Heat will just scrape by during the regular season, finish around the .500 mark, earn a low playoff seed and serve as a sacrificial lamb for one of the East's upper echelon teams.
On that same token, even if Miami somehow misses the playoffs, the team likely won't be bad enough to get a top draft pick, leaving the Heat in no man's land.
There is one thing Miami can do this season to better its future, though: trade Hassan Whiteside.
The Heat signed Whiteside to a massive four-year extension during the summer of 2016, and he has not exactly been worth his paycheck. Sure, the counting numbers are really good, but his overall impact on the game is lacking, at least for what he is earning.
Whiteside is making $25.4 million this season and has a $27 million player option for the 2020-21 campaign. Will he pick up the option? Who knows, but there is a very good chance he does given the fact that it's hard to fathom him ever making that much money in any one season ever again.
Here are three reasons why the Heat should just cut their losses and try to move Whiteside now:
3. Making the Playoffs Isn't a Good Idea
Like I said earlier: the Heat are too good to tank, but at the same time, they would still be better off getting a lottery pick and at least taking the chance of getting a top selection than making the playoffs and losing in five games in the first round.
Trading Whiteside would help with that.
Well, probably.
Whiteside only has a plus-0.7 net rating this season, but you have to assume that moving him will make the Heat worse.
The 29-year-old is averaging 12.4 points, 12.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game this season while shooting 53.1 percent from the floor, so he does provide some value, at least in the form of rebounding and rim protection.
Dealing Whiteside would just be one less competent body Miami would have in its quest to make the playoffs this season, and while the Heat are used to making the postseason, failing to qualify for a change would not be a bad thing this year.
Heck, a lottery pick would even give the Heat more ammunition to use in a potential trade.
2. To Open Up Playing Time for Bam Adebayo
Second-year big man Bam Adebayo has actually been one of the Heat's biggest bright spots this season, averaging eight points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists over 22.1 minutes per game while making 55.4 percent of his field-goal attempts and 73.2 percent of his free throws.
He also owns a plus-4.3 net rating and seems to have outstanding potential in the defensive end.
Basically, Adebayo is Miami's center of the future, and the sooner the Heat can get Whiteside out of the equation, the better.
Adebayo is just 21 years old and showed flashes of his potential during his rookie campaign. He has only gotten better this season, and a legitimate argument can be made that he is actually better than Whiteside in many respects.
Unlike Whiteside, effort and accountability doesn't seem to be an issue with Adebayo, and the Kentucky product can also defend the pick-and-roll adequately, something that Whiteside has always struggled with.
Adebayo should be getting close to 30 minutes per game, but the Heat won't be able to provide that for him without moving Whiteside.
1. To Acquire More Assets
Now, here is the thing with Whiteside: trading him won't be easy.
He has a huge salary to match, and I just got done saying how he isn't worth what he is getting paid, so it is going to take a team in dire need of some frontcourt assistance to trade for him.
Or, maybe there is just a team out there who likes what Whiteside brings to the table and thinks he can provide some value. Much, much stranger things have happened. I mean, the Houston Rockets really did think Carmelo Anthony would work out, and there was a time when Billy King traded every draft pick he had from here to eternity to the Boston Celtics for one semi-productive year of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.
So, Whiteside is sure to generate some interest. He may be overpaid, but he isn't a bum.
For a Heat team that does not have all that much intriguing young talent, acquiring any sort of building blocks they can, whether that be in the form of young players, draft picks or both, could go a long way in expediting what should be a rebuilding process this summer.
Not only that, but Miami is always going to be a prime destination for stars because, well, South Beach. So, the more assets the Heat stock up, the more they will have to use in potential trades.
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